Jews and Politics

Kevin over at Political Animal has a post in which he criticizes the LA Times for emphasizing the impact of Jewish votes, when in fact, claims Kevin, the real impact of Jews in politics is... money (what a surprise!).

Now Kevin does try to sidestep the obvious (and classic) Anti-Semitic undertones by entering this caveat:

I'm well aware that stereotypes of greedy, moneygrubbing Jews make this a touchy subject, but writing about politics without writing about money is basically telling a lie. And refusing to mention money simply because the topic at hand is Jewish voters is the worst kind of journalistic lie: a cowardly one.

Here is my quick and dirty rebuttal of Kevin's point.

First, Jewish money doesn't matter to Republicans. Bush's appeal to Jews is not about filling his own coffers. Bush doesn't need more money. It's not as if he is struggling to fundraise. If money enters into this at all, it is about denying money to the Democrats. J.J. Goldberg, in his book about Jews and politics points out that while Republicans can glean money from all manner of businesses and wealthy individuals, Democrats have ,in recent history, relied heavily on funds from Jewish Americans. If, however, this is the case, then doesn't it make sense for Bush to try and eat into one of the Democrats' only major sources of funding? Well, no. First, I would argue that the Republicans have already hit their limit when it comes to Jewish supporters. It was all new and exciting about 20 years ago when the first prominent Jewish Republican voices started to be heard, but in the two decades since, the Republics have yet to make any real headway (nearly 80% of Jews voted for Al Gore in 2000, second only to African Americans). Second, in case nobody noticed, for all the hubbub about money in politics, this year's election seems to be defying all conventional wisdom. Bush's massive warchest has not been able to knock-out Kerry early and Kerry has been able to keep pace. Methinks that dollar signs just aren't gonna do it this year. Which brings me to my next point...


Kevin's claim that "Gaining 10% of 4% of the vote isn't something that Karl Rove is spending any time worrying about" forgets the obvious point that, a) while Jews make up only 4% of the electorate they make up a much higher percentage of likely voters in several swing states (most notably Florida) and b) a swing of 10% of Jews in Florida in 2000 would have made a recount unnecessary. So, no Kevin, I don't think Karl Rove is up nights thinking about swinging 10% 0f 4% nationally, but he does want 10% in states like Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan (all battleground states with significant Jewish populations).

Look, I'm not going to accuse Kevin of Anti-Semitism or even anything close to it. There's nothing wrong with bringing up the issue of money and where it comes from. But to say that the presidential candidates are appealing to any one group of people only because of their financial status is to marginalize that group. Jewish political power comes from the ability of certain sectors of US Jewish communities to mobilize lots of different kinds of political pressure (of which, financial pressure is only one). I also realize that this is a touchy subject, but I am committed to rebutting the myth that Jews in the United States have too much power or that they bought their power. Jews happen to live in swing states, happen to vote in high numbers and tend to be more attentive to politics. That's the foundation of Jewish political influence.